jueves, 7 de marzo de 2019

Welcome to the House of Rolls-Royce
here in Geneva! Each year we come to Geneva to update you about our
business and to share with you some truly special examples of our
wonderful products.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Welcome to the House of Rolls-Royce here in Geneva!

Each year we come to Geneva to update you about our business and
to share with you some truly special examples of our wonderful products.

And this year is no exception.

As the world’s pinnacle luxury brand, celebrating our 115th
anniversary this year, we take great pride in these beautiful and
precious items, lovingly handcrafted by the nearly 2000 people who
work at the Home of Rolls-Royce at Goodwood.

This celebrated facility in West Sussex, is acknowledged as a
global centre of luxury manufacturing excellence. It lies at the very
heart of the Rolls-Royce success story.

Our Home is a very unique place – a creative oasis where we are
constantly guided by the vision of our founding fathers, Charles Rolls
and Henry Royce to “Strive for perfection in everything you do”.

Since 2003 every Rolls-Royce in the world has been created here.

Ladies and Gentlemen, at Rolls-Royce, our clients are our
life-blood.

They are our heroes and our friends and we are obsessively
focused on providing for their needs and desires. For them, being
within the warm embrace of the Rolls-Royce family is an unbelievable
experience, like no other. And they are deeply appreciative of our
hyper-centric attention to the smallest of details.

The Home of Rolls-Royce at Goodwood has become a must-visit
destination for large numbers of our valued clients.

They come from around the world to specify their Rolls-Royces
and to meet our designers, engineers and bespoke craftspeople.

Many return later to view their creation being built in our
factory or to take delivery of their Rolls-Royce in our fully bespoke
Customer Suite.

So, from Goodwood to Geneva, this year, we have brought some of
the best examples of products for you view and to enjoy. They are all
truly lovely!

We have our complete product offering on our stand today, led by
the world’s most exclusive luxury product the Rolls-Royce Phantom,
described by many of you in the media and by our customers as “the
Best Car in the World”.

Phantom is at the core of our company’s success. It is a global
expression of ultimate achievement and I am pleased to report that
more and more of our younger customers are experiencing our Phantom
short-wheelbase as a self-driver’s car.

Phantom is flanked by Ghost, now in its 10th year of production
and still in strong demand around the world. Ghost is a global
favourite amongst our powerful, entrepreneurial clients.

Then, we have brought from Goodwood examples of our two highly
contemporary, seductive coupe models.

Wraith - here in its Black Badge guise - is the ultimate
powerful and agile Grand Tourer. Edgy and menacing, Wraith appeals to
our young clients who are trendsetting, cosmopolitan citizens of the world.

And then, Dawn, our truly beautiful sexy and seductive drophead
coupe. Dawn is much loved by our more social, fun-loving customers who
crave the sensual pleasure of open-air travel.

Finally, to complete our product line-up we are joined this year
by our hugely successful Rolls-Royce Cullinan, our first SUV.

Cullinan was launched to great global acclaim last year and has
received effusive headlines in the media and an enthusiastic welcome
from our customers.

I am delighted to tell you that our forward orders for Cullinan
stretch into the fourth quarter of this year.

We are in full production at our Goodwood factory and continue
to make substantial investments, including the employment of an
additional 200 associates, in order to meet this very pleasing
customer demand.

I can confidently say today that Rolls-Royce is set on a
continuous and successful growth trajectory.

And speaking of success, it is with great pride that I can tell
you that 2018 was another exceptional year for Rolls-Royce.

We set an historic business record, achieving our highest annual
sales in our marque’s 115-year history.

We delivered 4,107 cars to customers in over 50 countries around
the world and in doing so achieved year-on-year sales growth in all
regions. The Americas remained our largest market.

But at Rolls-Royce it’s not all about volume.

Our unique and successful business model focuses on preserving
the rarity of our products, which is a key demand of our customers,
while at the same time achieving record levels of profitability.

This, we believe, is the real hallmark of how a true luxury
brand should be managed.

In this regard I am happy to report that the Rolls-Royce
business generates pleasing profits and we continue to contribute to
the bottom line of our shareholder, the BMW Group.

Ladies and Gentlemen, please take a close look at and enjoy all
the fine Rolls-Royces on our stand. Each one contains unique and
beautiful examples of our world-renowned Bespoke offerings.

No other manufacturer of luxury goods can equal customer
personalisation to this level.

Indeed, today more than ever, it is globally recognised that
“Bespoke IS Rolls-Royce”.

To more fully understand our Bespoke offering, please do take a
particularly close look at this beautiful Phantom Tranquillity.

Created for those who conceive and achieve the impossible,
Tranquillity is an expression of Phantom’s standing as the rarest and
most desired object in the luxury world.

The Tranquillity Collection is strictly limited to just 25
examples worldwide and I am pleased to tell you that they have already
all been purchased by discerning Rolls-Royce collectors.

Look into the car and see the tasteful integration of wafer thin
shavings of the Muonionalusta meteor that fell to earth in Sweden over
a hundred years ago.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the contemporary Rolls-Royce of
today - a 115 year old brand, completely relevant in the present and
moving purposefully into the future. A vibrant, successful and
sustainable business, providing the most discerning people in the
world with the rarest and very best luxury products and service on Earth.

As for the future: well, as you can imagine, we are not standing still!

We are imagineering and already engineering an exciting future
for Rolls-Royce. A future that will be fully electric, digital and
technologically innovative while never overlooking our commitment to
the custodianship of the great Rolls-Royce brand.

This is what our customers and the world expects of us and rest
assured, this is what we will deliver.

But for now, thank you for listening and I invite you to join me
and my colleagues on the stand for a closer look at our lovely cars.